Cards Down Wolves 5-3

FARMINGTON — U.S. 62 rivals, Farmington and Lincoln, battled into the seventh inning during their first meeting on the baseball diamond as 4A-1 Conference members.

When the dust settled, Farmington held off the Wolves, 5-3, behind the pitching of starter, Keaton Austin, and timely home runs smacked by Levi Strope and Jacob Thompson.

Farmington coach Jay Harper attributed the Cardinals’ success this season to a combination of senior leadership and productive underclassmen.

“Number one, probably the most important is having four great seniors who lead us,” Harper said.

“We’ve had underclassmen step up. Keaton Austin pitched great tonight. Adam Ness has played great in the outfield. Jacob Thompson hit a home run tonight and Hayden Sutton, a sophomore is playing first base for us, which is a hard position for him to be in as a sophomore but he’s stepped up and done it.”

Austin gave up a run in the Wolves’ first at- bat, then held Lincoln scoreless until the fifth inning.

“The lefty [Austin] kept us offbalance with the fast ball and slider he threw,” said Lincoln coach Brad Harris.

Lincoln’s fifth inning run was set up by Tyler Cummings’ double into the left corner and an error on a throw to first after Drew Harris made contact. The Cardinals then picked Harris off on a steal attempt to get out of the inning.

In the sixth inning, Austin caught Payton Hulse looking for a called strike three and induced Dalton Simmons to pop up to second base. Dakota Riggin then belted a single into center field and advanced to second when he and Ossy Escareno both beat a fielder’s choice play. Kaleb Ayers singled on a 2-2 pitch to bring Riggin home narrowing Farmington’s lead to 5-3.

Levi Strope then came on in relief to record the final out with catcher Taylor Burba snagging a pop up near the backstop.

Farmington’s runs came on a pair of home runs. Strope smashed a walkoff home run to plate Josh Mueller in the Cardinal half of the first inning and Jacob Thompson stroked one over the left field wall for a three-run shot in the second.

“I was sitting on a fast ball pitch and that’s what I got,” Strope said.

Cummings started on the mound for Lincoln and drew praise from his coach by holding Farmington scoreless over the last four innings.

“He did a nice job. He did a good job after giving up a home run in the first and second innings. He got through that. I thought he pitched pretty well,” Brad Harris said.

Cummings is returning from a football injury with Wednesday as his official release day. He said the doctor gave him an early release with precautionary restrictions of no running bases and those restrictions expire today.